Principal volatile odorants and dynamics of their formation during the production of May Bryndza cheese

Volatile aroma compounds were investigated along the production of May Bryndza cheese, a traditional Slovakian cheese produced from raw ewes’ milk. Solid phase microextraction was used to isolate the volatile fractions, which were subsequently analysed by gas chromatography–olfactometry and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Twenty-seven key odorants were found and described in the intermediate product, ewes’ curd ripened for 0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 days, or in the final product. A major overall increase in the number of aroma-active volatile compounds and in their odour intensity or concentration took place during the first day of ripening of the ewes’ curd, and the odour gradually culminated at the end of ripening. During the final technological step of Bryndza cheese production, when the ewes’ curd ripened for 10 days is decrusted, pressed and milled with NaCl solution, 8 aroma-active volatile compounds disappeared.